Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a transporting element for accommodating and for transporting spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles, in particular foodstuffs, especially eggs, and a cooking appliance, pasteurizer or cooling unit.
Generic transporting elements are used especially in cooking appliances, pasteurizers or cooling units for conveying eggs along a conveying route through the cooking appliance, pasteurizer or cooling unit. The conveying route within the pasteurizer or cooling unit is usually formed in such a way that as a result of the necessary treatment duration, e.g., during pasteurizing with water heated to approximately 60° C. with which the eggs are sprayed, the conveying route is formed in a meandering fashion in order to keep the transport path, which is covered horizontally, as short as possible and to allow forming the cooking appliance, pasteurizer or cooling unit as compact as possible.
German patent document DE 10 2004 012 348 A1 discloses a pasteurizing method and a pasteurizer formed for carrying out the method in which the eggs to be pasteurized are conveyed in rows lying adjacent to each other along the conveying route. Transporting elements are conventionally used to fix the eggs in their position in or on the transporting element.
It is important in such fixing that the eggshell surface covered by such fixing elements is kept as small as possible in order to spray the eggs over the largest possible area with the heated water.
Exemplary embodiments are directed to a transporting element for accommodating and for transporting such spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles, especially foodstuffs such as eggs in particular, along a conveying route, with which the wettable exterior surface of the spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles can be increased even further.
The transporting element in accordance with the invention is formed as a channel-like body, having an accommodating space for accommodating the spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles, the accommodating space being curved in the form of part of a circle, as seen in the cross-section, and enclosing an angle of at least 180°, wherein the bearing positions in which the spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles can be accommodated are designed in form of slot-shaped apertures in the region of the channel-like body that is curved in the form of part of a circle. The slot-shaped apertures extend in parallel to each other and transversely to the longitudinal extension of the channel-like body on either side up to longitudinal crosspieces forming a respective longitudinal edge.
It is possible with a transporting element formed in this manner to enable the treatment of the spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles, especially eggs, over the entire surface when travelling through the conveying route, especially spraying the articles over the entire surface with water heated to approximately 60° C. when used in a pasteurizer, since the transporting element allows pivoting the transporting element, on the conveying route formed in a meandering manner, by 180° from a first position, e.g., in an ascending region of the conveying route, to a second position in a descending region of the conveying route, so that an egg situated loosely in a slot-shaped aperture of the transporting element changes its position along the slot following the pivoting movement within the slot. The contact region of the egg on the transporting element is thus changed in such a way that during the passage of the egg along the conveying route wetting of the entire surface of the egg with heated water is possible.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the apertures extend over an angular range of 150° to 190°, so that the spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped food items always partly enter the slot-shaped aperture and thus also remain in the associated bearing position during or after the pivoting of the transporting element.
At least one of the longitudinal crosspieces forming the longitudinal edge of the channel-like body is preferably not curved at least in part, but is formed in a flat manner.
For increasing the stability of the transporting element in its longitudinal direction, at least one of the longitudinal crosspieces is formed in an especially preferred way in a bent manner away from the accommodating space along its exterior longitudinal edge.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, mounting elements for the pivotable bearing of the transporting element about a pivot axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the transporting element are preferably provided on the face ends of the transporting element. The transporting elements can be fastened in a simple manner by means of the mounting elements on crosspieces provided for this purpose, which can be moved by a drive means such as a chain for example along the conveying route and thus entrain the transporting elements through the conveying route.
They are especially preferably formed in an integral manner and especially made from a stainless steel sheet for easier handling, especially mounting, and also for cleaning of the transporting elements.
The cooking appliance, pasteurizer or cooling unit in accordance with the invention, which comprises a cooking, pasteurizing or cooling space in which a conveying route is arranged, along which the spherical or egg-shaped foodstuff to be conveyed, especially eggs, can be transported in an entirely horizontally progressive manner, but up and down in a meandering fashion on transporting elements mounted in the conveying route, involves the transporting elements being formed as described above and are mounted to be pivotable about approximately 180° about a pivot axis oriented transversely to the conveying direction.